The Comic Book Store Regeneration
"The Comic Book Store Regeneration" is the fifteenth episode of the eighth season of the American sitcom The Big Bang Theory. The episode aired on Thursday, February 19, 2015. Summary Amy is helping Barry Kripke and doing experiments on her friends. Stuart reopens his comic book store, while Howard is furious that Stuart is using his mother's furniture for his store. Howard's mother dies while visiting his aunt in Florida. Extended Plot Sheldon and Amy are eating lunch in Amy's laboratory|lab and Sheldon tells her a science joke. "How many Thomas Edison|Edisons does it take to screw in a light bulb? None; he steal|stole the idea and doesn't deserve his own joke. Jokes should entertain and inform." Barry Kripke shows up with a gratitude|thank-you gift for Amy, who helped him with a paper on string theory. He incorporated her string theory idea and has gotten a great response. Sheldon says that he'd like to read it and to send it to sheldon@bazinga.biz (bazinga.com was already taken, and he just gave Kripke "the business"). Kripke replies that Sheldon can suck egg and leaves. Sheldon wonders why Amy never offered to help him when he was working on string theory. Amy reminds him that she "did" offer to help him, but he stated that the only math biologists know is "three frog minus one frog equals two frogs." Amy thinks that Sheldon is being petty since all she did was help a fellow scientist. He reminds her of his profession rivalry with Kripke and that if they were friend, he would have told him to suck on something more pleasant, which causes Amy to giggle. Howard is on the phone talking to his mother, who is visiting Howard's Aunt Gladys in Florida. He remarks to Bernadette that she is finally in a place where everyone complains about how sweaty they are. Howard is not happy that his mother wants him to check in on Stuart. Who is going to check on him if he is loneliness|lonely? Bernadette reminds him that he has a wife, and that things will probably change since Stuart is reopening the comic book store. Howard just wants things to get back to normal between him and his mother. Bernadette wonders what normal really is. Sheldon is working on his laundry as Penny enters the laundry room and he explains that he is mad at Amy. Penny thinks that helping someone else is a good thing, but he's not happy since Amy is helping Kripke. Sheldon left string theory because he thought it was a dead end and by working with his rival, Amy may prove that he was wrong. He angrily balls up his dryer sheet and throws it into the clothes dryer|dryer... well, actually, at the dryer, since he missed the opening by about a mile and a half. He apologizes that Penny had to see that display. She wishes she had a camera. Penny reminds him that he was always for the advancement of science; however, Sheldon is only interested in "his" advancement of science. Penny wants him to "let it go" and to talk to Amy. After berating her for what he thinks is pedestrian advice, he complains that life is giving him lemons and he doesn't know what to do about it. Penny tells him that he should shove them somewhere, with Sheldon replying that "now" she is getting Creativity|creative. Leonard, Raj and Stuart are working in Stuart's new comic book store. Raj tells him that the place looks great and that he should have burnt it down years ago. An upset Stuart once again claims that he didn't intentionally burn it down, which earns him a "suuure, you didn't" wink from Leonard. Howard and Bernadette enter, and they both voice their appreciation for the new store... until Howard sees some of his mother's den furniture in it. This sets Howard off, who says that maybe Stuart should bring over everything else from the den including the clown art he made as a kid. Stuart shoots back that he must have spent ten whole minutes on it. Howard then retorts that maybe he should have gone to art school, opened up a failed comic book store, and mooched off somebody's mother. Bernadette wants them to leave, but Howard refuses since his mother's money helped Stuart reopen the store. Leonard and Raj leave to get the party food and exit an awkward situation. Penny and Sheldon are in her apartment as she folds laundry (the wrong way, according to Sheldon, who takes over the chore out of sheer frustration with her methods). Sheldon wants to know how to let something go. She Advice (opinion)|advises him to think of something else, and he proceeds to think of a spiny anteater, though it still comes back to Kripke. Penny wants him to try Mental image|visualization and to imagine his problems are a pen: he should hold the pen and then let it go; however, Sheldon imagines such a special pen that he doesn't want to get rid of it. He tries another approach, telling Penny that Amy has been giving her puzzles to compare Penny's intelligence to that of the monkeys in her lab. Penny denies it until she remembers (via Flashback (narrative)|flashbacks) Amy giving her some scissors to assemble, some coins to sort by size, and a banana in a Chinese puzzle box. She gets mad at Amy and Sheldon tells Penny to "let it go", and that he was rooting for Penny. She finds the whole experiment very insulting to be compared to monkeys. Sheldon wants her to imagine a non-special pen, which gets him thrown out of her apartment. Sheldon's happy because his suggestion worked; he was no longer mad at Amy. Howard and Bernadette are sitting on his mother's couch in the comic book store with Bernadette commiserating with Howard. Bernadette reminds him that if the comic book store does well, Stuart will be able to move out of his mother's house. Howard reluctantly agrees, then petulantly says that he didn't marry her for her to make sense, he married her so that she could blindly support him no matter how ridiculous he was. Bernadette counters that that's why she had to rewrite their wedding vows. Raj and Leonard are at a deli picking up food for the comic book store party, when Raj spots Nathan Fillion sitting at a table eating his lunch. Raj suggests they ask him to do a hospitality|guest signing at Stuart's new store. Leonard agrees, but is reluctant to approach him, because if he turns out not to be nice, it would ruin "Firefly (TV series)|Firefly' and other shows that Fillion appeared in for him. Raj counters with that the actor who played Jon Snow was a jerk to them ,but they still watch "Game of Thrones". Leonard points out that he had been a jerk because Raj had rear-ended him. Raj countered with that he had been distracted seeing a member of the Night's Watch with a kayak strapped to his car. Raj approaches him and the man denies being an actor, then gets insulted when Raj tells him he's not that bad an actor. He again denies being who they think he is and tells them he just wants to eat his lunch. Amy arrives at Sheldon's apartment just as Penny comes out of her's. Penny, who's still mad at Amy, goes into full-on sarcasm mode, excitedly telling Amy that she got her door open all by herself, and to celebrate, she's going to throw some feces around her Cage (enclosure)|cage. Amy gets mad at Sheldon for telling Penny about the Test (assessment)|tests, which causes him to quickly shut the door. They want Sheldon to open the door, but he claims to be naked. He opens the door, and while Amy gets a very good view of Sheldon, Penny quickly tells him to pull his pants up, which he proceeds to do after closing the door again. Amy then offers Penny $5.00, which is what she paid each of the undergraduate students on which she performed the same intelligence test. Penny just wants her dignity back, so Amy offers her $10.00. Back at the deli, the man finally admits that he is Nathan Fillion, though a now-skeptical Raj wonders what he is doing eating alone in a deli. Nathan offers to have a picture taken with them, with Raj still skeptical. Nathan then asks if they want a picture of them with a guy that looks like an annoyed Nathan Fillion. That's good enough for Facebook, according to Raj, and the resulting picture shows a smiling Raj, a happy Leonard giving a thumbs-up, and an unsmiling, very annoyed Nathan Fillion. Leonard and Penny are now on the couch at the comic book store discussing how both Amy and Sheldon did experiments on both of them. Leonard brings up how hard the puzzle box was, with Penny expressing amazement that he couldn't get it open while she could. Amy and Sheldon walk in and Leonard and Penny say how dare they experiment on their friends and that they don't mind hurting their friends' feelings. Sheldon says, "That sounds like us," while at the exact same time Amy says, "It's not true." They also revealed that the puzzles they solved were faster than when the monkeys did it, except for one who was on Adderall. Howard comes in, still complaining, and Bernadette wants him to "let it go". Sheldon says that he can help him with that, and tells him to picture an ordinary pen. Howard excuses himself to take a phone call while Amy asks how she can help make this up to Penny and Leonard. Penny tells her that the answer is in this puzzle box; one hand wrapped around her raised the finger|middle finger. Bernadette tells Stuart that he could've warned Howard about using his mother's furniture, which Raj agreeing when he said it while helping him move it. Howard finishes his call and rejoins the gang, looking like he's in complete shock. Leonard asks if he's okay and he says he's not; his aunt just told him that his mother died after she took a nap and never woke up. Bernadette breaks into tears and hugs him tightly, and everyone else goes over to console him. Sheldon wants to says something though Leonard expects Sheldon to say something inappropriate and tries to stop him ,but Howard tells Sheldon to say what he has to say. Instead of being rude, Sheldon sincerely comments, "When I lost my own father, I didn't have any friends to help me through it. You do." These comforting words cause Howard to smile while surprising the others such as Penny who gets broken up and remarks that she thought that he was going to say to "let it go". Later, the gang is back at Leonard and Sheldon's apartment. Raj finishes speaking to Bernadette on the phone. Howard is hanging in there, and they're leaving for Florida that night to attend the funeral. The gang reflects on Mrs. Wolowitz's passing. Stuart can't believe she's gone, and will always be grateful to her for taking him in in his time of need, as he would have been homeless otherwise. Amy remarks that one of them would have offered him a place to stay, and Stuart retorts that he doesn't remember any offers. Raj is going to miss her, and reflects on how she made him feel welcomed when he first came to United States|America (especially when she though that Raj was the gardener the first few years). Penny reflects on how Mrs. Wolowitz had told her that she was too skinny and should eat more. Amy remarks that she had said the same thing to her, and Penny tells Amy not to take this moment from her. Sheldon didn't like the way that she yelled, but will miss it. Leonard offered to yell at him if he wanted, but Sheldon said it just wouldn't be as good. Leonard and the rest of the gang then Toast (honor)|toast Mrs. Wolowitz, saying she was a great mother to all of them (which doubled as a toast by the cast to their own "mother," the late Carol Ann Susi, may she rest in peace.). Credits * Guest starring: ** John Ross Bowie as Barry Kripke ** Kevin Sussman as Stuart Bloom ** Nathan Fillion as Himself ** Angela Relucio as Hostess * Teleplay: Steven Molaro, Steve Holland & Maria Ferrari * Story: Bill Prady, Eric Kaplan & Jim Reynolds Notes *'Title Reference:' The title refers to the reopening of Stuart's comic book store. *Taping date: January 13, 2015 *This episode was watched by 17,49 million people with a rating of 4.5 (adults 18-49). *Total viewers including DVR users 23.44 million. *The Big Bang Theory was ranked #x for the week ending xx January 2015. *This episode aired in Canada on February 19, 2015 with 4.16 million viewers with a weekly ranking of #2. *In Australia, it aired on March 23, 2015 with 0.94 million viewers. * Episode transcript https://bigbangtrans.wordpress.com/series-8-episode-15-the-comic-book-store-regeneration/ * Chuck Lorre's vanity card http://www.chucklorre.com/index.php?p=491 Critics *Jesse Schedeen at IGN - Since the tragic passing of actress Carol Ann Susi last November, Big Bang Theory fans have wondered how the show would move forward. Would the producers retire the Mrs. Wolowitz character altogether, or would they attempt to recast the part and keep that shrill, disembodied voice as a recurring element on the show? I think most would agree the latter option would have been a classless way of handling things. Luckily, it's a non-issue now thanks to "The Comic Book Store Regeneration." This episode allowed Susi and her character to exit the show gracefully. Though whether this was really the ideal episode to tackle that development is open for debate. * IMDb user reviews Trivia *This episode doesn't end with audience laughter because it ends sadly. *Between Howard's news about his mom dying and Sheldon's comforting statement to Howard about losing his own father, there is no audience sound effects or laughter in the scene. This works perfectly, as to work with the numb silence one usually expects at horrible news. The scene also shows a more caring and empathetic side of Sheldon, who shared a similar experience with losing a parent. *This episode marks the passing of Howard's mother and acknowledges the passing of Carol Ann Susi, the Category:Episodes Category:Stuart Category:Season 8 Category:Shamy Category:Amy Category:Sheldon Category:Leonard Category:Penny Category:Bernadette Category:Raj Category:Howard Category:Howard-Bernadette Category:Leonard-Penny Engaged Category:Mrs. Wolowitz Category:Amy's Lab Category:Kripke Category:Transcripts Category:The Big Bang Theory Category:Death Category:Opening Category:Penny's Short Hair Category:Raj Talks Without Alcohol Category:Episodes featuring a guest appearance Category:Guest Appearances Category:Goodbye Category:Winter episodes Category:Sheldon's Mortal Enemies